One Year!

On Thursday, WordPress gave me a notification saying ‘Happy 1st Anniversary Emily Clare Beauty’ and I was like ‘Whatttttttttttt?!?!’. It has been a year since I started my blog. A whole entire year. It feels so less than that, but then it also feels like I have been blogging for ages. To celebrate my blog turning one year old, not only did I go out and buy a bright pink helium balloon, I thought I would do a chatty post, looking back on old photos and explain my blogging journey… So if I were you, I would grab yourself a cup of coffee, or tea or a hot chocolate and make yourself comfortable!
I started blogging in March 2016, with a very small understanding about the whole ‘Blogosphere’. I didn’t have a single clue how to use WordPress, or how to take professional photos, or what SEO was and I didn’t know how much effort goes into blogging. To be honest I am still clueless on the whole SEO front, however I am in the process of turning my blog into a self hosted blog and I am helping other WordPress bloggers with their blogs, and never in a million years did I think I would be doing that.
I actually had a blog before Emily Clare Beauty called ‘Beauty Anion’. Don’t even bother asking me why I called it that. I actually did the whole thing of Googling ‘Blog name generators’ and even that makes me cringe. However I didn’t like it. I wasn’t happy with the name, or how the blog looked etc.. so I deleted it and started again. I am so happy I did because having that blog taught me a lot about how to use WordPress, so when I started this blog, I sort of knew what I was doing.
These are two of the photos from my second blog post on Emily Clare Beauty. My first blog post was this:

“Emily Clare Beauty Blog Launch

I have decided to start a blog!

Well… I already had a blog called BeautyAnion. I would be surprised if you have heard of it though. However I wasn’t happy with it so I removed it, justified to myself whether I wanted to blog and if so how I can make it amazing for you! So I then created Emily Clare Beauty!

But why a beauty and fashion blog?

I have always loved fashion. When I was younger I would complete many fashion booklets full of doodles of outfits and my own creations. I even created (may I say awful) drawings of some dresses for the dancers on Strictly Come Dancing when I was 7. I also take a keen liking in the beauty world and I have a vast range of beauty items in my collection, so I know a fair bit about beauty which I can share with you!

So I really hope you will stick around and find help or advice or joy in my future blogs to come!

Emily Clare x”

That was it. From there I started creating content on my blog like reviews, or what’s in my bag posts. As you can tell from the photos above, I took my photos on my old iPhone 5 and I strung up fairy lights on my wall. I held the eyeshadows palettes in front and that was how I took my photos.
These photos show how I started understanding a bit more about the photography side of blogging, for example using props like flowers and using my old Lumix camera to have better quality photos. Now I use my Canon camera and a big soft box, and I have a box of blog props, however if you asked me last year whether if I thought it would be like this I would have said no.
Blogging has also let me capture moments like holidays, something which I can look back on for myself as well. Below you can see photos from when I first got my Canon camera. I was so excited because I felt really fancy and professional… a bit like a little kid at Christmas. Yes.. they are not the best photos, but I am still learning.

This is from Sunday’s post and it is the first photo with my new Canon EOS 1300D. I love it so much. I also have a soft box to get me even and better lighting.

I am amazed at how much my blog has transformed and at how much I have learned. For instance, I have become really picky with more photos because I now edit them thoroughly, but I have also learnt how much social media helps to expand a blog. I am still learning as well, I have just started posting my photos onto Pinterest to build more traffic. I am also astonised by the support from everyone who reads my posts. (Cue cheesy paragraph…).
I was really scared about telling people about my blog because I thought I would be picked on for it. I only started telling my friends about four months ago! But now I don’t care because I know I have 2700 plus amazing people following my blog and I am proud of what I have accomplished in a year. I am genuinely blown away by how lovely people are and how supportive other bloggers are. I have made friends through blogging which is something I hadn’t even thought about, but now I wouldn’t know what to do without them.
This post has been really long and a bit long-winded I know, however I just want to say thank you for everyone who has helped me, followed me or contributed to my blog to make it what it is today. Blogging is tough, and requires a lot of effort because it is like having a twenty-four hour job, but I LOVE it.Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest | Facebook | Youtube
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Congrats on hitting a year! You have accomplished so much and should be so proud of yourself! You have come so far, and still have so much to do. Continue to enjoy the journey love xxx
Melina | http://www.ivefoundwaldo.com

Loved reading this and congrats on the one year anniversary. I’ve only been going a few months but I look back at my first photos and posts and deleted some of them as they were SO bad! Funny at the time I was so proud of myself haha. Our tastes change constantly and like you said, we learn so much about photography etc as we go along. I went self hosted a while ago but still have issues with my posts duplicating into my old site. I’ve hidden it but it won’t go away! I should just delete it really but I don’t like to 🙁 hope your blog continues to be a success x

I purchased my domain from Godaddy originally but Site Ground host my page now since going self hosted. I thought it was a problem with the wp app still being connected to my old site. I disconnected and added my SH site but jet pack keep reconnecting it, something to do with the site stats.

I purchased my theme from Pipdig and used their free migration link with Siteground. It took around 5 days to complete & they did it all for me. I then had to do a fair bit of personalisation etc to the theme, took a while to find my way around the settings / menu set up but got it figured out now. It’s just the old site that causes me issues now!

That’s exactly what I thought too but no it stays unless you delete it, you can hide it but if you disconnect it from the app it keeps prompting you to reconnect it so jet pack can give you your site stats. It’s very annoying! connected to use the site stats through I don’t even know which site you guys are seeing! I can only assume it’s my new one!

Honestly? You’re my blogging inspiration, and I admire you so much. I found you – or we found each other – on your previous blog and it’s an honwhr to have seen you grown. I hope to becomes as successful as you because you really are amazing and you’ve achieved so much. Not only are you a brilliant beauty blogger, but you UNDERSTAND how to blog which is more than can be said for me. You’re also a kind and caring person, and you’ve looked for me and supported me. Never stop writing, and I’m telling you, your blog is going to be huge one day.

Awwwh I love you Elm. I think we must both inspire each other because you taught me so much about blogging and you are my inspiration. I always read your blogs and I wish I could blog like you, so to here this from you is amazing! You are amazing Elm!

I’m so happy for you! I totally love your blog ❤️ I was so glad to read that you’ve been helping out other bloggers, so I hope you wouldn’t mind giving me feedback on my blog too ! Thanks xx, Anushka from Sheer Solstice !